Coming to the End of Yourself

Hopeless situations are God's "invitations to resk" that can change your life

By Deborah Bate

Weak from hunger and overwhelmed with despair, the woman stumbled from her home to finish one last task before surrendering to death. Not long ago, her husband had died, and now she and her son were running out of food.

But the widow of Zarephath had no idea that on her most hopeless day, God was about to step into her world and reveal Himself to her through His prophet Elijah (1 Kings 17:9).

A Challenge and a Promise

The entire region was suffering from drought due to Israel’s Baal worship, which was led by the wicked King Ahab and Queen Jezebel (16:31-32). In spite of God’s warning through Elijah (17:1), they refused to repent, and the rain stopped completely.

Food was now scarce, and Elijah was totally dependent upon the Lord for his most basic needs. When God directed him to go to Zarephath to find the widow, he might have assumed that it was merely for his own provision, but the Lord had a different reason.

Zarephath, a town in Sidon just north of Israel, was subject to Ahab’s rule, although its people were not Hebrews and were considered outsiders. The widow knew about the God of Israel, but she didn’t know Him. Her misconceptions of Him, most likely shaped by her concept of Baal, had to be burned away so that she could clearly see the true God—who loved her and wanted her to learn to trust Him.

The Lord began to build the woman’s faith during her first encounter with Elijah. Upon entering the town, the prophet saw her gathering sticks and asked for a drink of water. She took her first small step of faith by doing what the stranger requested. But while she was getting the water, he asked her for something a little more difficult—a piece of bread.

The widow explained to him that she had no bread but “only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar” (v. 12). She was gathering a few sticks so she could cook one last meal for herself and her son before they died.

By asking for increasingly difficult acts of obedience, God was slowly growing her faith in Him. Getting a drink of water for Elijah required only a little effort and kindness, but sharing some of her meager provisions with him would be a sacrifice.

Elijah told her not to be afraid but to first make him some bread, and afterwards she could make some for herself and her son. Then he gave her a message directly from the Lord: “The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth” (v. 14).

An Invitation to Risk

Now she had a promise of an amazing miracle. Would she believe it and risk entrusting her life to this God of Israel? If she believed the prophet’s words, she had only a small piece of bread to lose and an unending supply of food to gain. But before you conclude that this must have been an easy decision, put yourself in her shoes. What would you do if you’d lost nearly everything, and the Lord asked you to give Him what little you had left? Could you trust Him enough to obey, believing that He would provide for you as promised?

Lean times are God’s invitation to believe Him. When we’re facing financial insecurity, we realize what’s always true: our only real security is in the Lord and His Word. We basically have two choices: hold on tightly to the little we have and do our best to make ends meet, or release our grip, acknowledge our helplessness, and accept His offer to supply our needs.

Our difficulty isn’t so much in accepting God’s provision as it is in cooperating with His method. So often we want Him to just drop what we need into our laps. But throughout Scripture, the Lord’s promises to provide materially are accompanied with the request that we give Him back a portion. This can feel like a huge step of faith when your bills are greater than your income, when you’re unemployed, or when your IRA is melting away.

The widow of Zarephath decided to believe and obey the Lord. After first making a piece of bread for Elijah, she discovered that almighty God does what He says He will do: as promised, her little bit of flour and oil miraculously didn’t run out (vv. 15-16).

Dynamic Faith

She must have been overwhelmed with the power and goodness of Elijah’s God.

But faith isn’t a static condition. As long as we live in this world, our faith will be tested; these tests are invitations to grow in intimacy with Him. The widow’s newfound confidence in the Lord was shaken when, soon after the miracle, her beloved son got sick and died. In grief and despair, she blamed Elijah: “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?” (17:18 niv). She had seen God do the miraculous yet still didn’t understand His character; she thought He was punishing her for her sins.

But Elijah knew his Lord, and his first response was to pray for the impossible: restoration of the child’s life (vv. 19-23). And God revealed more of Himself to the widow by again doing the unheard-of. When her son was raised to life, her eyes were opened His true nature—His mercy, love, and redeeming power—and she declared that the Word of the Lord is truth (v. 24).

Never underestimate the importance of believing that God’s Word is truth. This is our foundation for faith. Without it, we will let circumstances determine our perception of who God is and whether He can be trusted. But if we believe that He never lies, we’ll rely on His promises instead of our own plans and resources.

Like the widow, we may find that our first steps of faith feel like a blind leap into an uncertain future. But as we experience God’s faithfulness, each successive step will seem more secure than the previous one. In time, we’ll develop faith that trusts in this firmer reality than in all the situations that tempt us to believe God is untrustworthy.

A victorious walk with the Lord is available to all who will believe Him and risk obeying what He says. I can’t help wondering how different the widow’s life would have been if she hadn’t taken that first step of faith. She would have remained in her hopeless condition, never meeting the one true God, never seeing His miraculous provision and power, and never learning to trust Him.